Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2016 10:38:18 GMT
CHAP. XXIX.
Of Miners and Metals.
TO Architecture is adjoyn'd Mining and Digging of Metals; an Art of no small ingenuity, disco∣vering by the very Superficies of the Earth, either in Plain or Mountain, what Veins are there to be found, how far they extend their bounds and sides, and how to undertop the hollow and empty bowels of the Earth: concerning which, Strato Lampsacus, among the Ancients, hath written a large Treatise, Entituled, De Machinis Metallicis. Though how out of the Me∣tallick Oar, to consolidate and purifie the true Metal by fire; or if mixt, how to separate them, few or none have hitherto taken the pains to teach; perhaps because that being an Art too Mechanick and Servile, learned and ingenious Men have thought it beneath their Studies. However, being my self some years since made Overseer of some certain Mines by his Im∣perial Majesty, searching diligently into the Nature of all those things, I began to write a special Treatise thereof, which I have yet in my hands, continually adding and correcting the same, as my Experience and Knowledge encreased; intending to omit nothing that may serve to further the Invention and Knowledge thereof, whether in relation to the searching and dis∣cerning of the Vein, melting the Oar, under-propping of Mines, framing all manner o• Engines, and what∣ever else belongs thereto: Mysteries hitherto altoge∣ther hidden before. By means of this Art, we come to be Possessors of all Humane Wealth; the eager de∣sire
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whereof hath so invaded Mortals, that they make their approaches to Hell, and seek Riches in the very mansions of the Infernal Ghosts; as Ovid elegantly describes it.
Deep in the Bowels of the Earth they toyl;
There what she strove neer Stygian shades to hide,
They dig up Wealth, the baneful Root of Pride,
Now fatal Steel, but far more fatal Gold,
With gain bewitch'd did Mortals first behold.
Desire of gain, that Truth and Vertue chas'd,
And in their room Deceit and Treason plac'd.
Or as another Poet doth express himself,
Now Truth is driven out by Gold,
By Gold our Laws are bought and sold.
Certainly therefore he first found out the greatest plague of Humane life, that first found out Mynes of Gold, and other Veins of Metal. These men have made the very ground the more hurtful and pestiferous, by how much they are m•re rash and venturous than they that hazard themselves in the deep to dive for Pearl. Concerning the places where these Metals are found, Authors do very much vary. Lead, they say, was first found in the Islands called Cassiterides, not far from Spain: Brass in Cyprus, Iron in Crete, Gold and Silver in Pangaeus a Mountain of Thracia: At length they infected the whole world; onely the Scythians, as Soline relates, condemn'd the use of Gold and Sil∣ver, resolving to keep themselves eternally free from publick avarice. There was an antient Law among the Romans against the superfluity of Gold. And in∣deed, it were to be wish'd that m•n would aspire with the same eagerness to Heaven, that they descend into
Page 82
the Bowels of the Earth, allur'd with that vein of Riches, which are so far from making a man happy, that many repent too often of their time and labour so ill bestow'd.
Of Miners and Metals.
TO Architecture is adjoyn'd Mining and Digging of Metals; an Art of no small ingenuity, disco∣vering by the very Superficies of the Earth, either in Plain or Mountain, what Veins are there to be found, how far they extend their bounds and sides, and how to undertop the hollow and empty bowels of the Earth: concerning which, Strato Lampsacus, among the Ancients, hath written a large Treatise, Entituled, De Machinis Metallicis. Though how out of the Me∣tallick Oar, to consolidate and purifie the true Metal by fire; or if mixt, how to separate them, few or none have hitherto taken the pains to teach; perhaps because that being an Art too Mechanick and Servile, learned and ingenious Men have thought it beneath their Studies. However, being my self some years since made Overseer of some certain Mines by his Im∣perial Majesty, searching diligently into the Nature of all those things, I began to write a special Treatise thereof, which I have yet in my hands, continually adding and correcting the same, as my Experience and Knowledge encreased; intending to omit nothing that may serve to further the Invention and Knowledge thereof, whether in relation to the searching and dis∣cerning of the Vein, melting the Oar, under-propping of Mines, framing all manner o• Engines, and what∣ever else belongs thereto: Mysteries hitherto altoge∣ther hidden before. By means of this Art, we come to be Possessors of all Humane Wealth; the eager de∣sire
Page 81
whereof hath so invaded Mortals, that they make their approaches to Hell, and seek Riches in the very mansions of the Infernal Ghosts; as Ovid elegantly describes it.
Deep in the Bowels of the Earth they toyl;
There what she strove neer Stygian shades to hide,
They dig up Wealth, the baneful Root of Pride,
Now fatal Steel, but far more fatal Gold,
With gain bewitch'd did Mortals first behold.
Desire of gain, that Truth and Vertue chas'd,
And in their room Deceit and Treason plac'd.
Or as another Poet doth express himself,
Now Truth is driven out by Gold,
By Gold our Laws are bought and sold.
Certainly therefore he first found out the greatest plague of Humane life, that first found out Mynes of Gold, and other Veins of Metal. These men have made the very ground the more hurtful and pestiferous, by how much they are m•re rash and venturous than they that hazard themselves in the deep to dive for Pearl. Concerning the places where these Metals are found, Authors do very much vary. Lead, they say, was first found in the Islands called Cassiterides, not far from Spain: Brass in Cyprus, Iron in Crete, Gold and Silver in Pangaeus a Mountain of Thracia: At length they infected the whole world; onely the Scythians, as Soline relates, condemn'd the use of Gold and Sil∣ver, resolving to keep themselves eternally free from publick avarice. There was an antient Law among the Romans against the superfluity of Gold. And in∣deed, it were to be wish'd that m•n would aspire with the same eagerness to Heaven, that they descend into
Page 82
the Bowels of the Earth, allur'd with that vein of Riches, which are so far from making a man happy, that many repent too often of their time and labour so ill bestow'd.